An empirical study of consumer behavior in housing market in Colombo

This study aims to provide a scientific insight into the consumer behavior of the housing market in Sri Lanka. Consumer behavior in the housing market presents a veritable problem to be reckoned with, which might not yet been addressed scientifically. The broader objective of the study is, therefore, to add the knowledge of consumer behavior of housing market in Sri Lanka to the existing body of knowledge. Further, it is expected, especially, to identify the determinants of the consumer behavior, to rate them in terms of importance, and to compare the relative importance of the determinants among different market segments. This study disclosed a number of attributes of the market according to the potential buyers' views in relation to buying decision of a house. 35% of the respondents stated that they would like to buy built houses rather than engage in construction. Further, it was identified that "location" of a house is the most important determinant of the buying decision. However, it is not the dominant factor because some other factors such as "quality of construction", "price", "legality", "facilities", "neighborhood" are also more important closely as important as the location. The other revealed fact is that the demographic variables such as age, income levels, and occupation are not highly effective criteria for the segmentation of the housing market. Accordingly, it is certain that this study provides a valuable supplementary to the existing literature of the marketing management through imparting the knowledge of the consumer behavior of the housing market in Sri Lanka. DOI: 10.4038/besl.v8i1.1906 Built-Environment Sri Lanka Vol.8(1) 2008 11-1